Book Review | A Life Less Throwaway

Book Review | A Life Less Throwaway

With the whole world trying to convince us to spend our way to happiness, we’ve left cluttered, stressed and unfulfilled. In this book “A Life Less Throwaway. The Lost Art of Buying for Life”, Tara Button tells the story of how we’ve sleepwalked into a world where our lives are focused on items with little lasting value.

In the first part of the book, Tara is talking about how our brain influences what we buy and the marketing tactics that make us spend more and more. I really enjoyed reading some interesting facts on “Planned Obsolescence” – when companies design products before they need to, in order to make more sales and of course, more profit. You probably all have heard about “The Lightbulb Conspiracy”. It is a very famous a truly shocking documentary, where actual written proof of planned obsolescence has been found. Long story short, by 1924, lightbulbs had been getting in quality, lasting up to 2500 hours. Then representatives of the biggest electric companies (including Osram, Phillips and General Electric) agreed to make sure their bulbs will break within 1000 hours. This is how we ended up in a world full of cheap, poor quality items.

In the second part of the book, Tara Button is teaching about “mindful curation” and how to buy for life in this cheap items world. She is sharing tips on how to find best, long-lasting items that you love and how to look after them. Being more mindful about what we buy protects us from impulse spendings and gives us more resilience to advertising and marketing manipulation. She talks a lot about how to master a mindful curation.

Tara Button is now an active campaigner influencing manufacturers to up their game in terms of product longevity and to encourage consumers to buy once and buy well. She is also a founder and CEO of Buy me Once – online shop and campaign for longest-lasting products.

This book is a great source of inspiration on how to become a conscious buyer, especially if you are doing a No Shopping Challenge with me! You can find this book in your local library (as I did!), buy used one on eBay or a new one here.

Disclaimer. Please note, I have not been paid for this post nor been given a book in exchange. As always, I have shared my honest opinion.